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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsICE Can Now Enter Your Home Without a Warrant to Look for Migrants, DOJ Memo Says
April 25, 2025 12:02 pm
A new memo from the Trump administration reveals something shocking: ICE agents have been told they can enter homes without a warrant to arrest migrants, based on little more than suspicion. The March 14 directive, signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, uses an obscure 18th-century law the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to give law enforcement nationwide the power to bypass basic constitutional protections.
According to the memo, agents can break into a home if getting a warrant is impracticable, and they dont need a judges approval. Instead, immigration officers can sign their own administrative warrants. The bar for action is low a reasonable belief that someone might be part of a Venezuelan gang is enough. The gang in question is Tren de Aragua, a group the Trump administration recently labeled a foreign terrorist organization. But legal experts say this is no justification for shredding the Constitution.
The home under all constitutional law is the most sacred place where you have a right to privacy, said immigration attorney Monique Sherman. By this standard, spurious allegations of gang affiliation means the government can knock down your door. The memo was obtained by watchdog group Property of the People through a public records request and posted online. What it shows is a sweeping expansion of federal power one that skips over courts, skips over due process, and puts anyone suspected of gang ties at risk of deportation without a hearing. The DOJ memo makes one thing clear: anyone labeled an Alien Enemy is not entitled to a hearing, appeal or judicial review.
Civil rights groups are pushing back hard. Lee Gelernt, lead ACLU attorney in multiple court challenges, said: Now we find out the Justice Department was authorizing officers to ignore the most bedrock principle of the Fourth Amendment by authorizing officers to enter homes without a judicial warrant.
https://dailyboulder.com/ice-can-now-enter-your-home-without-a-warrant-to-find-migrants-doj-memo-says/

Attilatheblond
(5,773 posts)Seeing the possible theme for the protest after May Day protest
uponit7771
(92,801 posts)milestogo
(20,436 posts)Initech
(104,639 posts)
paleotn
(20,310 posts)The Republic died some time ago and we're just figuring that out.
Dr. T
(211 posts)says I can legally shoot anyone who is attempting to break into my house. It's just a matter of time.
flying_wahini
(8,061 posts)They are making laws that only apply to themselves.
newdeal2
(2,412 posts)hlthe2b
(109,411 posts)Can these "armed-to-the-teeth" homeowners in Texas and other red states just unload?
(Inquiring minds want to know... )
allegorical oracle
(4,765 posts)
hlthe2b
(109,411 posts)at a minimum...And extended to its obvious end, "melted" ICE agents, so to speak.
paleotn
(20,310 posts)What could possibly go wrong? Then again, maybe some in the regime want things to "go wrong."
bucolic_frolic
(50,082 posts)ICE is sure to figure them out very soon.
Irish_Dem
(69,122 posts)I hope to God that none of these coward nazis with masks, no badges, and guns
ever come near me. I will not go without a huge fight. I am a proud American citizen
and will not go quietly.
allegorical oracle
(4,765 posts)out to search the homes. Stuff of nightmares.
Irish_Dem
(69,122 posts)surfered
(6,487 posts)If plain clothed, masked men, without a warrant, and not identifying themselves break into my house, I must assume they are not law enforcement and they are going to meet some resistance.
spanone
(138,909 posts)allegorical oracle
(4,765 posts)dchill
(42,212 posts)Dave Bowman
(5,059 posts)dchill
(42,212 posts)...right after they reinstall the screwtop skullcap.
Response to milestogo (Original post)
surfered This message was self-deleted by its author.
Bayard
(24,855 posts)Sounds like a good way for them to get shot.
bluestarone
(19,712 posts)Happen to these NAZI's
tulipsandroses
(7,201 posts)No desire to hunt a dangerous sexual abuser then. But now, poor migrants and their families must be hunted.
Nigrum Cattus
(494 posts)Reasonable belief would require reasonable people.
There are no reasonable white "christian" nationalists.
mopinko
(72,395 posts)i wish ppl wd stop accepting that he can actually do this shit.
no they cant. unless u swallow this shit and let them. its like the 4th amendment is a petty detail here.
milestogo
(20,436 posts)
0rganism
(25,035 posts)Decades of intrusive draconian enforcement of drug laws, often focused against minorities to begin with, have normalized such violations and established legal precedent along the way. I hope the ACLU gets traction for resistance and delay but this is an uphill fight.
paleotn
(20,310 posts)
Dude. It's over. Rule of law, period, is dead in America.
0rganism
(25,035 posts)The law no longer rules here, but it's still capable of raising public awareness and slowing the collapse. If this prevents even one person from ending up in a sunless gulag for the rest of their lives, it makes a difference. But generally, I agree with you on substance if not attitude: none of this is remotely funny.
paleotn
(20,310 posts)Sure the courts are ruling that all this is unconstitutional, but the regime is ignoring the courts and doing it anyway. I also thought surely people of good faith and conscience in and outside the federal government would step up and put a stop to these excesses. But they're not. They either won't or can't and the excesses get worse with every step the regime gets away with. In essence, our Republic is done. Soon as Kilmar Abrego Garcia returns to the US from El Salvador, I'll change my mind. But that ain't happening. Rule of law is meaningless in Amurka.
mopinko
(72,395 posts)esp when that how u start the sentence. even turn it around- doj memo says agents can- is far more accurate.
same w all this shit. he signs an eo, and the media presents it w the same wording as if he were signing legit legislation. they rly need some qualifiers here.
their presenting a mirage as if it is an actual oasis.
RoeVWade
(470 posts)nt*
eShirl
(19,271 posts)FAFO
milestogo
(20,436 posts)They are breaking laws left and right - and most of it ends up in court later on. But they will get right wing judges who go along with it.
As if letting ICE barge into people's homes and terrify them is somehow "protecting" the American people.
mopinko
(72,395 posts)seems to me its important enough to squeeze it into the headline that its a gross violation of the constitution. i think they call that burying the lede.
Initech
(104,639 posts)They all should be rotting in prison for the rest of their lives. Fuck them.
IA8IT
(6,140 posts)Greybnk48
(10,529 posts)Especially if theyre wearing masks and plain clothes. BOOM!
Kid Berwyn
(20,192 posts)Pam Bondi is a NAZI.
twodogsbarking
(13,499 posts)Aristus
(69,824 posts)"Ah gots me this here AR-15 so's ta perteckt me from the ty-rannical gubmint!"
If ICE warrantless home invasion doesn't constitute government tyranny, nothing does...
paleotn
(20,310 posts)And are cheering every unconstitutional move this regime makes. Oh, the irony!
Aristus
(69,824 posts)They're too stupid to realize that, sooner or later, it will. Eventually, a tyrant will become paranoid enough and defensive of his power to see even his most fervent supporters as threats.
xocetaceans
(4,161 posts)...of easily accessible contact page or physical location other than a mailing address. I had to look to Reddit to even get a link to that minimal "about" page.
Getting quality news links through DU is a service that DU provides. Corrupting DU's news and opinion via the use of such "pink slime" sites as what "The Daily Boulder" seems to be is not much better than linking directly to RW sources or using Fox "News" as a source.
Here are links to more reputable sites with the same story:
The Justice Department quietly authorized immigration agents to seize power in arresting people under the Alien Enemies Actno warrant required.
Malcolm Ferguson / April 25, 2025 / 2:33 p.m. ET
The Justice Department quietly invoked the Alien Enemies act last month to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the power to conduct warrantless searches of peoples homes as long as they suspect them to be an alien enemy. USA Today obtained the memo that contained this order on Friday.
As much as practicable, officers should follow the proactive procedures aboveand have an executed Warrant of Apprehension and Removalbefore contacting an Alien Enemy, the memo reads. However, that will not always be realistic or effective in swiftly identifying and removing Alien Enemies. An officer may encounter a suspected Alien Enemy in the natural course of the officers enforcement activity, such as when apprehending other validated members of Tren de Aragua. Given the dynamic nature of enforcement operations, officers in the field are authorized to apprehend aliens upon a reasonable belief that the alien meets all four requirements to be validated as an Alien Enemy. This authority includes entering an Alien Enemys residence to make an AEA apprehension where circumstances render it impracticable to first obtain a signed Notice and Warrant of Apprehension and Removal (emphasis added).
...
https://newrepublic.com/post/194442/trump-doj-memo-ice-arrest-search-warrant
Nick Penzenstadler and Will Carless | USA TODAY
April 25, 2025 10:07 a.m. ET
Trump administration officials directed law enforcement nationwide to pursue suspected gang members into their homes, in some cases without any sort of warrant, according to a copy of the directive exclusively obtained by USA TODAY.
The directive, issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi March 14, provides the first public view of the specific implementation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act invoked to deport migrants accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/25/trump-venezuelan-gang-deportations-alien-enemies-act/83253074007/
It is not hard to find and link to decent sources (if one cares about the quality of the information provided and also about the maintenance of DU as a quality site that allows one to keep oneself informed).